Saving Seafood

Elver landings rising slowly, but price stays low

April 18, 2017 — A little more than three weeks into the 10-week fishing season, Maine elver dealers have reported buying about 30 percent of the total annual 9,616-pound landings quota allocated to the state’s fishery.

As of 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to figures the Department of Marine Resources described as “extremely preliminary,” dealers had purchased a total of 2,828.908 pounds of elvers and reportedly paid harvesters a total of $4,057,115 — an average price of $1,434 per pound.

That price may be misleading, though. On Patriots Day morning, an elver dealer in Ellsworth was paying $1,150 per pound and advising the fishermen who sell to him to hold on to their eels for a few days in hopes the price would rise.

At this time last year, dealers in the Ellsworth area were offering harvesters $1,300 per pound, with the low price reportedly a reflection of a weak market in Asia.

For the past two seasons, Maine harvesters have landed fewer elvers than allowed under their quota: 5,259 pounds in 2015 and 9,400 pounds last year. In 2015, the average price of elvers was just under $2,172 per pound and, at times, the price has soared above $2,400 per pound.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Officials cracking down on poaching of a slippery, squiggly and valuable commodity — baby eels

April 10, 2017 — A massive, years-long undercover operation has led to arrests and guilty pleas up and down the East Coast of poachers and traffickers who dealt in a slippery, squiggly and valuable commodity: baby eels.

William Sheldon, who runs one of the biggest and oldest eel businesses in Maine, might be forced to give up his truck with the license plate “EELWGN.” In federal court in Virginia this month, a Brooklyn seafood dealer named Tommy Zhou became the eleventh person to plead guilty to eel trafficking as part of the sweeping federal investigation known as “Operation Broken Glass.” Zhou declined to comment.

“I’m kind of chuckling now as more and more faces show up in the paper,” said Tim Sheehan, who runs a seafood company so far north in Maine it’s nearly in Canada. “We could be the last dealer standing.”

Maine is home to the only major legal market in the United States for baby eels, known as glass eels or elvers. (There is also a small market in South Carolina.) But sky-high prices for the little wrigglers has led to widespread poaching, as elvers caught farther south are smuggled north. Tracking illegal eels is a challenge.

“Fishermen can sell eels to dealers who can then sell eel to anybody,” said Toni Kerns, director of the Interstate Fisheries Management Program, a part of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The commission is a coastal-state compact that sets eel regulations.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Brooklyn Seafood Dealer Pleads Guilty for Illegally Trafficking American Eels

April 6, 2017 — The following was released by the U.S. Justice Department:

Today, Tommy Water Zhou pled guilty in federal district court in Norfolk, Virginia, to trafficking more than $150,361 worth of juvenile American eels, aka “elvers” or “glass eels,” in violation of the Lacey Act. As part of his guilty plea, Zhou admitted to illegally selling or purchasing elvers in interstate commerce, which had been harvested illegally in Virginia.

According to the statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, in 2010, Zhou established a seafood distribution company known as Wilson Group Sea Trading LLC. The company’s principle place of business was Brooklyn, New York, and its operations included importing seafood for domestic consumption and exporting seafood to international markets. In 2013, the defendant obtained a Maine elver dealer license, authorizing him to purchase and resell elvers harvested in Maine. Thereafter, using his Maine dealer license to cover his illegal activity, the defendant began purchasing and exporting elvers that were actually harvested from Virginia waterways in violation of Virginia law.

This plea was the result of “Operation Broken Glass,” a multi-jurisdiction U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) investigation into the illegal trafficking of American eels. To date, the investigation has resulted in guilty pleas for eleven individuals whose combined conduct resulted in the illegal trafficking of more than $2.75 million worth of elvers.

The guilty plea was announced today by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Acting Director Jim Kurth of the USFWS.

“We will not allow illegal wildlife traffickers to undermine managed fish species like the American eel,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Wood. “In this operation, we are actively partnering with states all along the East Coast to enforce the law and protect our nation’s waterways from further exploitation.”

Read the full release here

MAINE: Elver season opens, but action is slow

March 30, 2017 — ELLSWORTH, Maine — Elver fishing season opened on March 22 but, while Downeast stream banks are blossoming with fyke nets, at least so far, the juvenile eels that can fetch $2,000 per pound or more when the market is hot have been pretty scarce.

“Everyone set their nets to save their spots,” Darrell Young, an elver harvester from Franklin, said Monday morning. “The water’s too cold. I haven’t even started fishing yet.”

According to Young, fishermen with nets in the Union River have been landing only a few eels at a time.

“I spoke to one girl,” Young said. “She had 50 eels in her net.”

That’s not many, considering that it takes about 2,000 elvers to total a pound.

The few elvers that fishermen have been taking haven’t been of very good quality either.

“They’re weak. They don’t want to buy them,” Young said.

Weak or not, the few elvers that have been coming to market are fetching a reasonably good price.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Feds accuse Maine man of trafficking in poached baby eels

March 15, 2017 — A 70-year-old Woolwich man has been indicted by a federal grand jury alleging that he trafficked in poached elvers — juvenile American eels — between 2011 and 2014.

William Sheldon, a longtime commercial elver dealer operating as Kennebec Glass Eels, is charged with conspiracy and violating the federal Lacey Act, which prohibits interstate transport or transactions of any species of fish or wildlife illegally harvested or handled in any state.

Each of the seven counts carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Sheldon will plead not guilty to the charges, his attorney, Walter McKee, said Tuesday. He is scheduled for arraignment on March 30 in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Prosecutors say that from 2011 to 2014, while Sheldon was licensed in Maine and South Carolina to commercially harvest elvers, he violated the Lacey Act by buying or selling eels illegally poached in Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia and North Carolina.

Eel farming coming closer to reality in Japan

March 6, 2017 — At the 14th annual Seafood Show Osaka, held 22 to 23 February at ATC Hall, the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency operated a booth highlighting its work in closed-cycle breeding of Japanese eel.

Osamu Tamaru, a researcher at the research Center for Fisheries System Engineering, of the National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering, said that his group has achieved survival rates of 10 percent, but estimates that this figure needs to be doubled to be commercially viable. Asked what the difficult point was, he said, “The feed, the tank, everything…”

That is to say, it often hard to discover the cause of mortality. However, as commercialization of closed-cycle breeding of bluefin tuna is advancing in Japan, there is hope that pressure on threatened eel populations can be relieved through the research.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine’s 2016 Commercial Marine Resources Top $700 Million for the First Time

March 3, 2017 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

Maine’s commercially harvested marine resources topped $700 million in overall value in 2016, according to preliminary data from the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The total reflects yet another all-time high and an increase of nearly $100 million in value over 2015.

“Mainers should take great pride in the success of our commercial fishing industry,” said Governor Paul R. LePage. “The hard working men and women who fish for a living along our coast have established Maine as a leader in the responsible management and harvest of seafood.”

For the second straight year, the largest single increase in value was in Maine’s lobster fishery. The fishery saw the overall landed value jump by more than $30 million while the average per pound value remained over $4 for the second year in a row, at $4.07.

The overall value of Maine’s lobster fishery was again by far the highest at $533,094,366. When factoring in bonuses paid to harvesters as reported by 14 of Maine’s 19 lobster co-ops, the overall landed value of Maine’s lobster fishery reached $547,249,010.

2016 marked the first year ever that Maine lobster harvesters landed over 130 million pounds, with a total of 130,844,773 pounds. It was also the fifth year in a row in which Maine lobster harvesters landed over 120 million pounds.

“The historic landings reflect the hard work of our harvesters to build and sustain this fishery,” said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher. “The exceptional value is the result of growing demand by consumers who appreciate both the quality of Maine lobster and the long-standing commitment to sustainable harvesting practices that characterize this fishery.”

At $19,019,337 Atlantic herring, the primary bait source for Maine’s lobster industry, saw an increase in value over 2015 of more than $5 million. The dollar amount ranked it as Maine’s second most valuable fishery, despite a nearly 11 percent decline in landings. “Overall herring landings declined in 2016 as a result of a lack of fish off-shore, resulting in demand that far surpassed supply,” said Commissioner Keliher. 

Maine’s softshell clam industry dropped from second place in 2015 to third in 2016 with an overall value of $15,656,386. The decline in overall value reflected a 13.4 percent decline in per pound value as well as a 20 percent decline in pounds landed.

“One significant factor that contributed to the decline in softshell clam landings was a closure of harvest areas between the Canadian border and Mount Desert Island associated with Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) late in the season,” said Kohl Kanwit, Director of the DMR Bureau of Public Health. While the closure was minimized as much as possible through rigorous testing, many areas were closed for 2 to 4 weeks to ensure public health and safety.   

Maine’s elver fishery was again by-far the most lucrative of Maine’s commercial fisheries on a per pound basis at $1,430.51 a pound. Maine harvesters netted 9,400 of the 9,688 available pounds of quota for an overall value of $13,446,828, an increase of more than $2 million from the previous year. The overall value ranked the elver fishery as Maine’s fourth highest.

“While we can take this moment to celebrate the great value of Maine’s marine resources, we cannot lose site of the signs of change,” said Commissioner Keliher. “The agency and the industry must work to not only safeguard our iconic lobster fishery but also to work together on solutions that ensure the health and resiliency of all Maine fisheries.”

More landings data can be found at http://www.maine.gov/dmr/commercial-fishing/.

MAINE: Marine worm, elver hearing is postponed

February 15, 2017 — The Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee is set to hold a public hearing on a controversial bill that could significantly alter two Maine fisheries.

The hearing was originally scheduled for Monday, Feb. 13, but due to the snowstorm it has been postponed. An exact date and time should be posted later this week.

Rep. Robert Alley (D-Beals) is offering a bill (LD 115) that would ban dragging for mussels in any Washington County river and close Maine intertidal flats to worm harvesting from Dec. 1 through March 31. Last week, the Independent Maine Marine Worm Harvesters Association sent a mailing to all marine worm license holders soliciting their opinions on the proposal.

Judging from responses posted on the association’s Facebook page and elsewhere online, there is little support for a closed season and a divided opinion on the dragging ban.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

MAINE: Committee to hear marine worm, elver bills

February 8, 2017 — The Legislature is in full swing and next Monday, the Marine Resources Committee will hold a public hearing on a controversial bill that could significantly alter two Maine fisheries.

Rep. Robert Alley (D-Beals) is offering a bill (LD 115) that would ban dragging for mussels in any Washington County river and close Maine intertidal flats to worm harvesting from Dec. 1 through March 31. Last week, the Independent Maine Marine Worm Harvesters Association sent a mailing to all marine worm license holders soliciting their opinions on the proposal.

Judging from responses posted on the association’s Facebook page and elsewhere online, there is little support for a closed season and a divided opinion on the dragging ban.

A few harvesters commented on Facebook that a four-month closure could cost Maine diggers the opportunity to ship worms to the busy European bait market during the winter. When digging resumed in the spring, they said, there would be little incentive for European buyers to come back into the Maine worm market. That could leave harvesters and dealers with an oversupply of worms for the domestic market, and that could reduce prices.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

NEW YORK: It’s Now Safe to Eat (Some) Fish From This Famously Polluted Brooklyn Canal

January 18, 2017 — Attention, New York City tourists: There’s a new water attraction in town.

That is, if you’re brave enough to risk the historically polluted waterway of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal. A new public health assessment from the New York State Department of Health suggests that the famously inhospitable canal—which runs for 1.8 miles through parts of the hip tree-lined neighborhoods of Park Slope, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens—is now safe for leisure activities like kayaking and even a spot of recreational fishing.

“Because of many years of discharges, storm water runoff, sewer outflows and industrial pollutants, the Gowanus Canal is one of the nation’s most extensively contaminated water bodies,” the report admits, referencing its history as a channel for barges starting in 1853 and an outlet for sewage and industrial wastes.

That said, things seem to be cautiously looking up for the Canal. While the report noted the presence of hazards like fecal coliform bacteria and chemicals like benzopyrene, which is related to increased cancer risks, ultimately the Department of Health concluded that “recreational boating” and “catch and release fishing” shouldn’t be harmful to people’s health. They still don’t recommend taking a full-body dip or dunking your head any time soon, though.

Further, if you do plan to consume the local marine species that inhabit the waterway, there are some definitive guidelines: stay away from the eels and white perch, and only feast on needlefish, bass, and perch once a month, max. (And women under the age of 50 should stay away from the seafood altogether.)

But come hot city summers, it’s likely residents and visitors will start taking advantage of the canal, thanks to this report’s (admittedly tepid) assurances of improving health and a plan to invest up to $500 million in its restoration in future.

Read the full story at Travel & Leisure